Just a warning for now, this chapter is very choppy but I didn't know when I'd be able to post so I figured you guys would rather have choppy than nothing. As soon as I can, I'm editing and revising this chapter. The content wont change but I'll make it blend more. Sorry for the slack!

Dertupio: I'll explain all about Rini, or at least enough for you guys to understand for now, in the next chapter. Don't worry, I'm not mean enough to leave you guys hanging forever! )

ffgirlmoonie: Haha, yes. Rini.

Sousie: Sure! You'll find out soon, can't give away all my secrets!

SerenityDeath: Thank you! It seriously just crept up on me, I had no clue I would post it, let alone come up with it so fast. Hope you enjoy!

Raye85: I wrote two scenarios, one where she got raped and the other [which I obviously posted where she didn't. I could bring myself to have her being the next victim because it seemed to me that I could write a whole story itself with her being a victim of assault and I didn't want to complicate things. Darien and Serena are getting better

Champion of Justice: Thank you! Here is your update! Hope you like it.

LadyNightfyre: Awwww, thanks!! Hope you like this one too!

Sailor Mama: Thank you very much, I love hearing that. Rini doesn't come up in this chapter, but she will in the next. Don't worry!

Mistique: Love the name, just gotta say! Thank you for the review, and here is the update!

Bunnykim89: Hope this was soon enough!

Princessof Power: I'm glad you're enjoying it, that lets me know I'm doing something right!

Skye668: Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate the words and the ideas! Go ahead and shoot some ideas at me anytime, I'll always take them into consideration and let you know! Don't panic, Rini hasn't been forgotten, she'll be in the next chapter and that's when you guys will learn the how's and why's of Rini. Here you go, hope you like the update!

It had been two weeks since the incident at Serena's house. Two weeks and he still hadn't heard from her. He got updates from the Captain, but they were vague and not what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear from her. And he'd be damned if he didn't want to see her.

Darien ran a hand through his hair in frustration and sat back in his chair, wincing as it squeaked. He looked around the station house, his eyes scanning the faint darkness that was night. Everyone was gone for the night with the exception of Andrew who was in the back office copying files and wailing along to his IPOD.

He sighed, closed his eyes and found himself back in her house.

He rushed through rooms, not noticing the artwork on the walls, the barely decorated rooms, the family portrait above the fireplace. He was searching for a man who disappeared without a trace. And he was wasting time. His mind was focused on Serena, the image of her lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, her face as white as the moonlight that bathed her kitchen. His blood was hot and pulsing, pumping with adrenaline, and with anger. The white hot flash of it kept him going, kept him from ignoring his duties as an officer and taking her into his arms. Once the house was cleared, he fled back to the kitchen.

Rushing back to Serena, he gathered her in his arms, felt her body pulse with heat and warm his. The warmth of her calmed his raging heart, had his mind clear and stay steady. Her blood was staining his shirt but he didn't feel the wetness as it soaked through, didn't feel the cold as he hit the outdoors and it dried on his skin.

He had flown like a madman down the highway and through the town, his police cruiser pushing past cars in a blur of black and white, his lights flashing, siren blaring. He cursed as truck driver, either blind or stupid, pulled out in front of him and made Darien pull the cruiser onto the median and fly past him. Serena moaned in the seat next to him as he took a sharp turn.

He muttered an apology, put his hand on her arm and felt her still.

Bursting through the doors of the ER, he strode to the glass-encompassed desk, passing people in line. No one said anything, or if they did, he didn't hear them.

After that it was all a blur of bodies, pushing and pulling, shoving and stroking. They took her from him and he had to restrain himself from pulling her back. They could help, he couldn't.

"Darien, dude you need to eat."

Andrew snapped his fingers in front of Darien's face and watched as his friend's blue eyes sharpened and focused.

"What?" He looked up. "What?"

Andrew shook his head. "You need to get your mind of that girl, man." He edged a hip onto Darien's desk and munched on potato chips. "Want to go for a beer?"

Darien glanced around the office, the clock on the wall that read 11:17 and sighed. He'd never get any more work done tonight.

"You're buying."

While the music pulsed in her ears, Serena glanced around. Bars tended to attract rowdy company, not that she minded, but she wasn't too keen on being jostled, at least when she was sober. Which she didn't think she was, anymore.

She titled her head and put a finger to her lip. Her glass was empty. That was so not right. Nope, not right at all, she thought. She swayed on the barstool, gripped the lip of the bar to keep her steady.

"Coleman!" Serena shouted out for the bartender. Wasn't he supposed to keep them coming?

"Serena, Serena, listen." A pretty, petite blue-haired girl hiccupped as she grabbed Serena's arm. "I don't normally do…this." Ami narrowed her eyes. "Wait….what is this called again, guys?"

"Lick it, dunk it, suck it!" Mina yelled out loud and bounced into Lita who was laughing madly.

"No, no, that's not right," Lita giggled at her slurred speech and slammed her hands, palms down, on the table. "What was it?"

"Lick it, slam it, suck it, ladies." A shaggy looking gentleman stood behind the bar and in front of the five drunken women and grinned. They tracked his hand as he wiggled the Tequila bottle. Serena leapt off her barstool and snatched the bottle.

"Since you," She pointed at Coleman with the bottle, "Aren't keepin' em coming, I," She flung her hand at herself and wheezed as she hit her chest with the half full bottle, "Am keepin' the bottle, kay?" She nodded to emphasize her point. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other."

Raye leaned forward, snatching the bottle from Serena and looked back at the bartender. "Hey, what did you say it was again?"

"Lick it, slam it, suck it." Coleman laughed. "It'll come back to you."

Raye filled up everyone's shot glass, tossed them all a slice of lime and grabbed the salt. "I think…this is how you do it." She rubbed the lime on the back of her hand and then poured salt on it. "You're turn, girls!" She handed the salt to Serena, who mimicked Raye and then gave it Ami.

"Okay…on the count of three. One, two, three!"

That's what Darien saw as he stepped into the bar with Andrew. His gaze automatically hit Serena, as if he knew she would be there all along. He watched as she licked her hand, downed her shot and sucked on a lime slice before her laugh rang out into the crowded musty bar.

"This is going to be one hell of a night, Darien." He slapped his best friend on the arm as Andrew grinned boyishly then sauntered over to the girls. "Hello, ladies. Want some company?"

Serena woke to the mother of all headaches. Her head was stuck under her pillow and still she was seeing too much light. Struggling against nausea and pain, she rolled over and groaned.

She let her eyes open a slit, managed to tell she was in her bedroom, before she closed them again. She sighed gratefully. With the way she was feeling, she expected to be lying on gravel somewhere next to train tracks.

She heard singing. Serena held in the urge to scream but then decided it was her house, she could do what she wanted. "Son of a bloody whore!" How many times did she have to wake up to singing when she had a hang over? Didn't people know the meaning of hangover?!

Her sheets were pooled around her waist, her shirt from last night riding up to revel a toned, flat stomach. Her skirt was on the floor by the bed, and she vaguely remembered taking it off before sinking into her mattresses headfirst the very same morning.

Serena barely managed to make it out of her bed without throwing up all over the floor. After a few deep breaths she stumbled out of her bedroom and into the hallway. More singing. Mumbling, she tripped and caught herself on the accent table before she crashed to the floor. "Yukito, I swear to God…you better run fast before I take some blunt scissors and cut off your-" She trailed off.

"I thought you'd never wake up. How's the head?" Darien smiled at her from the stove in her kitchen.

How's the head? He's standing in her kitchen, dressed like that, and asking her how her head is? Her mouth went bone dry and she felt her knees wobble that had nothing to do with her hangover. "I need to sit." She grabbed the nearest chair and fell into it.

"What are you doing in my kitchen…in an apron?"

"I got hungry," He said simply. "Want anything while I'm here?"

Since the thought of food made her stomach rise to her throat, she shook her head. "I mean…what are you doing here, in my house?"

"I took you home this morning after a very…. eventful night at the bar. I wasn't going to interfere but when you jumped up on the pool table and started stripping, I figured I should take you home." He shrugged and turned back to his dishes.

She struggled with patience. "That still doesn't explain why you're still here, Detective." There was just an edge to her voice, and damned if he didn't like it.

"I stayed the night and told the boys outside they could go home to their own wives and families for a night." He shrugged, his back still turned. "Couldn't leave you here unprotected, so I stayed and crashed on your sofa."

Uncomfortable with the idea that he had been so close to her in sleep, she stood, clenched the table when the room spun. "I'm going to shower."

"When you get done, we're going to do some target practice," Darien called back to her. She paused in the doorway of the kitchen.

"What?" Her voice was a whisper, but he heard the anger.

"I don't care what kind of past experiences you've had with guns, but unless you want me bunking on your sofa every night –and I don't want that anymore than you- you've got to learn how to shoot a gun." Anger whipped in his voice. "Last thing you need is for him to show up again and you be unprepared. For a second time."

Serena opened her mouth then closed it. Damn him, she thought viciously. He had a point. Without saying another word she went to her bathroom to start the day.

Darien slid up behind her, molded her into him. His hands slid up her hips, barely touching, to her shoulders. He straightened her arms out, cupped her hands with his, and helped her hold the gun steady. He felt her tremble against him, felt her fingers jerk underneath his. His lips brushed by her ear, but neither gaze ever left the target.

"Aim for his chest. Imagine he's coming toward you; that he is threatening you, your life, or the life of someone you care about. Imagine that, and pull the trigger."

Serena felt his voice vibrate in his chest, against her back. She felt the warm length of him flush against her, felt his hands secure around hers, but still she doubted.

"I don't want to kill him. If I aim at his chest, I'll kill him, won't I?" She felt herself start to shrink into him and made herself straighten. "Can't I just shoot him in the knee or something?"

Darien's fingers tightened on hers. "If he's coming after you with a weapon you shoot to protect yourself. The biggest target on your attacker, the most vulnerable, is his chest. Open mass. It's right there and hard to miss if you know how to shoot."

Serena studied the nude colored mannequin standing a couple hundred feet in front of them. She closed her eyes and she was back in her kitchen, cornered between the counter and the man in black. The fear bloomed again, fresh and potent, as it was the other day. She tried to imagine herself pulling a gun on him, taking his life to save her own. Her eyes opened, blurred on the target.

She turned her head to look in his eyes, trying to ignore that slow, deep pull in her gut when she realized how close they were. "I don't want to kill anyone, Detective."

His eyes cooled. "Better to be tried by twelve then carried by six, Doctor." He got no satisfaction of watching her face pale, or of the way her blue eyes looked bruised and sleep deprived against that suddenly white backdrop and nudged her. "Shoot him, to save yourself."

TBC